Category: Robyn Recommends

GreenSmoothieGirl reader, Sanford Harvey, developed this really simple and helpful infographic on female hormones and shared it with us.

Have you always wondered why you are already experiencing signs and symptoms similar to menopause regardless of age? Have you felt like you could go head-to-head in a mood swing competition with your menopausal mother? Although female hormone imbalance is most common in aging women, it can be experienced by women regardless of age.

Female hormone imbalance is not exclusive to aging and menopausal women. Even women in their younger years can experience an overproduction or underproduction of one or more hormones. A whopping 80 percent of women worldwide suffer from different kinds of female hormone imbalance. Moreover, an estimate of 2.2 billion women over age 50 are presumed to suffer from female hormone imbalance by the year 2025.

Fortunately, female hormone imbalance does not have to be a ‘normal’ part of every woman’s life. Knowing and avoiding the triggers of female hormone imbalance can spare a woman from experiencing undesirable signs and symptoms such as forgetfulness, fatigue, sleeping difficulties, stubborn acne, mood swings, and more.

And if ever you might already be suffering from female hormone imbalance, there is still hope. There are simple and practical ways to correct hormone imbalance including leading a healthy and active lifestyle, eating a healthy and organic diet rich in omega-3 and healthy fat, and using hormone replacement therapy.

In all my research, I have found that “bioidentical hormone replacement” is the safest and best way to treat female hormone imbalance. I even prefer it over the other options which are unnatural and dangerous to your body. Bioidentical hormone replacement produces hormones with the same molecular make-up that your body naturally produces. This therapy takes hormones from animals versus making them synthetically as the drug industry does. Synthetic therapies are molecularly different and thus carry several associated risks.

Along with natural hormone replacement therapy is eating a more organic, raw plant food diet. In my opinion, this is as much part of the answer as hormone replacement therapy.

My friend, Kristie Rosser, who doubles as my own bioidentical hormone practitioner, says that stress can play a part in female hormone imbalance. She suggests that practicing meditation, gratitude, and working on your attitude daily has a positive effect on your body and can ease the negative symptoms of hormone imbalance.

When I am on speaking tours, women often talk to me about their hormone issues. I will give you the same advice I give them: Ask for a referral from someone you trust, or google “bioidentical hormone” along with the name of your city. Once you find a specialist you trust, you will need to get your blood tested. This isn’t just a T3 test you need that many OB/GYN’s order. There are upstream, downstream, and precursor hormones, each having a complex interplay that is best evaluated by an experienced bioidentical specialist. These practitioners have an advanced degree in nursing or medicine.

Contrary to what you may have been told, treating female hormone imbalance usually involves more than taking a thyroid pill. The successful approach may involve careful, timed delivery of natural precursor substances like pregnenalone or DHEA that support your body’s own ability to produce hormones. I prefer that versus taking pills!

Along with bioidentical treatment, I use our GSG Ultimate Minerals to support my thyroid function. As a result, I have been able to restore much of my thyroid production in recent years with my diet and strong mineral support. (Even with my quart-a-day green smoothie habit, I was low in minerals!) All of our Superfoods mixes increase raw, organic, whole plant foods in the diet, as well. I add a scoop of our raw, vegan, whole-foods protein to my green smoothie every day for thyroid support, appetite/weight management, and overall wellness.

What’s more is we just put our protein in single-serve pouches. On my recent trip to Texas, I used these GSG single protein servings 3x a day and returned home a pound lighter! (Usually I struggle to NOT GAIN weight on a trip.)

My question to you is what will you do to prevent and relieve the aggravating symptoms of female hormone balance? You can choose to not be a part of the 80 percent of women suffering from female hormone imbalance by simply exercising, eating right, drinking your green smoothie, and considering bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Everything you need to know about female hormone imbalance is in this infographic. Thanks to Sanford!

If you’ve been following GreenSmoothieGirl for a while, you might know that every 6 to 12 months, I go to my “home away from home,” the lovely Paracelsus al Ronc in the southern Swiss Alps.

I discovered them on a research tour I did, for 3 ½ years, looking for where to send people who want to opt out of “traditional” (chemo/radiation) cancer treatments in favor of something that detoxifies and rebuilds immunity.

It’s the most all-inclusive, beautiful, skilled, diet-focused, medically supervised place I found, on several continents. But imagine when I discovered that they do 7-day liver detox program, or a 7-day heavy-metal detox program. (All of us, and I mean ALL of us, need both of those.)

I’ve led quite a few trips to Al Ronc, and I just got back from having a blast with the folks in these photos. And the goats in the photo. (Above the clinic, a short hike takes you to goat herds above the hamlet of Santa Maria. We also went to an amazing symphony at the gorgeous 600-year old church in Santa Maria.)

You’re confused by these ladies drinking Prosecco at a liver detox? GSG readers from Canada to New Jersey to Texas. Well, that’s a good point. We eat vegetarian meals, beautifully prepared, three times a day. But on Friday night, after the “liver flush” on Day 6, we enjoy a Gala Dinner with Dr. Petra Wiechel, M.D. and her husband, Ulf, my good friends who own the clinic. In this photo, Marianna bought a couple bottles of Prosecco and shared with everyone before dinner got started. All detox and no play……well, and we made a couple of sightseeing and shopping trips into the beautiful lakeside towns in Switzerland and Italy as well.

All over North America, Central American, Europe, and Asia, I found nowhere with a value like this clinic offers. Diagnostics, treatments, and R&R. You can read more about the clinic and why a $25 million facility is able to give us incredible prices for the detox program that would be unsustainable anywhere else, even Mexico. I will release a short video with footage I just took at Al Ronc, in a few months. Stay tuned for that by watching my newsletter.

I already can’t wait to go back. You can go, without me, over Thanksgiving this year (for about $4,000 USD), or next April. I’ll be leading a trip in August 2016. You can check the dates out and let us know if you’re up for a trip of a lifetime.

I got an Intellibed several years ago. And the quality of my sleep radically changed. So, I talk about my bed, to people, a lot! In fact, I just did this short video in my bedroom. (It’s G-rated, don’t worry!)

I think it’s frustrating that virtually all the bed companies give you a 10-year warranty, but they also tell you that you need to buy a bed every 5-8 years. Fact is, some research shows that the bed has broken down 25% in the first 2 years, if it’s made with foam. And virtually all of them are.

My Intellibed just might be the last bed I ever buy. (I actually can’t wait to get home when I’m on a work trip in lovely Marriott and Hyatt hotels, because my bed at home is even better than those high-end hotel beds!)

So I went to my friends at Intellibed, who taught me a lot about sleep science, why supporting certain parts of the body in a certain way is critically important, and why our sleep and even our overall health suffers in a sub-par bed. I said, “How can I get a discount for my GreenSmoothieGirl readers, something better than they can get anywhere else? Plus, will you please make life easier for them by giving them some great stuff for free? You know I LOVE my Intelligel pillow.”

So, for the next 2 weeks, you can get 10% off any mattress, plus a free $90 mattress protector, plus free sheets and TWO $149 Intelligel pillows! (I used to love my Bucky pillow……I don’t even know where it is, anymore, because my Intelligel pillow supports my head BETTER while I sleep, so I love it even more.)

This is a better deal than they’ve ever given my readers before! The only way you’re going to get that deal, and that almost $600 in free items, is by using “greensmoothiegirl” as your coupon code on the Intellibed website. All one word.

I wouldn’t trust a small child or baby on anything but Intelligel, because of the potential link of SIDS to mattress off-gassing. Virtually all other beds use polyurethane foam as padding, and then you’re breathing toxic chemical fumes one-third of your life. There’s no off-gassing with your Intellibed.

I have done this promotion with Intellibed in the fall, every year, but they offered to give my readers EXTRA freebies for a Memorial Day sale. So if you want to improve your sleep, now’s the best deal they’ve ever given us!

I’m a supplement snob. Because most supplements out there are made from materials the body can’t process. (Like chalk! rocks! metals!, Or highly processed ingredients. Or isolated nutrients that aren’t helpful when they’ve lost the synergistic properties of the whole plant.)

When I did some lab testing 5 years ago, I was deficient in several minerals and trace minerals, I was astonished. I took supplements, and of course I drank tons of green smoothies. Aren’t greens full of minerals? What more could I do, diet-wise?

I learned that pesticides have heavily depleted humic and fulvic acids in the soil, which is where the plants get THEIR minerals. I learned that the vast majority of mineral supplements are made from rocks. (Which aren’t bioavailable to the human body.)

I then went on a hunt to FIND a plant-based, organic, non-diluted source of humic and fulvic acids. What we found we’ve put on a VERY RARE buy of our customers’ favorite product, and mine too. Through April only, you can get Buy Two Get One Free special, to let you stock up. (One bottle is about a 40-day supply for 1 person.)

Because I’d learned that fulvic acid is the richest and most bioavailable form of minerals, anywhere. And I wanted humic acid, too. Between them, they do far more than provide every mineral and trace mineral. They also increase cell permeability. This lets nutrition enter the cell and be utilized better, and it helps the cell push toxins out more effectively, too.

I finally located an organic, American, plant-based source of fulvic AND humic acids. The black, probiotic-rich stuff that USED to be in our soils. I wanted it highly concentrated—not heavily diluted with water

GSG Minerals support the growth of healthy hair and nails.

When I started using this product, my hair and nails started growing faster, thicker, longer. I’d had dark circles under my eyes, and they went away. Most significantly, my lifelong insomnia disappeared and, in 4 years now, that has never returned. I fall asleep in minutes rather than hours now. (You don’t speak in 88 cities like I did last year—lots of hotels!—if you’re an insomniac!)

These amazing benefits are just my own body’s reaction to having a balanced state of highly absorbable nutrients. Of course you will have your own specific response and my own story is not meant to be predictive for anyone else. As with any new protocol, please seek the advice of a competent health care provider.

The body needs trace minerals for everything it does. The neurological system needs minerals to shut down at night, and to wake up in the morning. So, don’t put your Ultimate Minerals in your green smoothie. It’s perfect, as recommended, in water right before bed and first thing in the morning—when your mineral reserves are most depleted, and your neurological system most in need of food!

I hope our special this month helps you stock up on my very favorite thing, the highly concentrated GreenSmoothieGirl Ultimate Minerals, your fulvic/humic acid compound, a plant-based way to supplement your whole-foods diet.

I went from 206 pounds and 21 medical diagnoses, to my ideal weight and disease free, 20 years ago. I drink LOTS of green smoothie every day, and eat plants and little processed food and animal foods. BUT. I never have lost my interest in having a treat every day! I probably never will.

Lots of great ideas and yummy recipes helped me make a transition. Away from Skittles, chocolate-frosting donuts, and peppermint patties, to treats made with whole foods.

Combine nut butter ingredients in a mixing bowl. Place three or four heaping tablespoons of mixture on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Shaping with your fingers, form a one-inch-diameter roll. Repeat with remaining mixture to form a second roll. Cool in freezer for 10 minutes. Slice into one-inch sections and roll each into a ball. Place in freezer while preparing the chocolate coating.

Scoop semi-solid coconut oil into a clean bowl. If the oil is in liquid form, place in the freezer for a few minutes until it’s white but still soft. Gradually add up to ½ C cocoa powder, stirring until a soft consistency is reached. Add honey, vanilla, Chinese Five Spice, and sea salt. Stir in coconut milk.

Roll chilled balls in chocolate, a few at a time. With two forks, lift and place chocolate-covered balls into a shallow bowl filled with half of the shredded coconut. Sprinkle tops and scoop up onto sides, then place onto a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Refresh with new coconut as needed. Pop into freezer for about 20 minutes until firm.

Store in a plastic container in refrigerator or freezer. From freezer, let sit at room temperature for 5–10 minutes before serving. Makes about 25 bonbons.

In a blender, mix first three ingredients until smooth. Add sparkling water and stir.

Cut strawberries into small chunks and mix with honey. Place 2 Tbsp. strawberries in the bottom of each mold. Repeat with remaining molds, then place in freezer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pour in the orange juice mixture to ¼” from top of molds. It will create an orangey-pink sunset swirl within the mold. Insert holders.

Freeze solid. Run warm water over the molds to remove. Makes about 14 4-oz. popsicles.

Check out this Ted Talk by Dr. William Li. He talks about how cancers become dangerous. We all have cancer clusters–but they are not dangerous until they develop a blood supply. (40% of women who die in car accident have detectable breast cancer, according to one study based on autopsies!)
So how do we cut off blood supply to the cancer? Anti-angiogenic therapy could include compounds Mother Nature has given us. Like resveratrol (it’s in grapes!), ellagic acid (it’s in raspberries!), genistein (it’s in organic soy).

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GreenSmoothieGirl and GSGLife founder, Robyn Openshaw’s passion for educating people about diet and nutrition arose from her own personal journey. 20 years ago, Robyn weighed over 200 pounds and had 21 chronic diseases.

Getting off the Standard American Diet proved a lifesaver. Robyn lost 70 pounds without dieting, by converting to a whole-foods, mostly plant-based diet. Twenty years later, she is a competitive athlete, free of all disease and symptoms, and at her ideal weight.